Hey pastors and leaders… want to measure how good your culture is and will be in a few months?
1. Listen to how well your people disagree in your staff meetings.
“Oh, we fight … we fight constantly.”
Your culture sucks too. Fights are very different than disagreements. Fights have the intent on harming the other combatant. Disagreements have the intent of showing the overwhelming validity and evidence for your viewpoint. Trust is missing from your staff environment, and your culture is rapidly declining downward.
“Oh, our people don’t disagree. We are all on the same page.”
Nope! Your culture sucks and you just don’t know it yet. Trust is missing from your staff environment, and your culture is slowly declining downward.
"Our people passionately stand for their viewpoints in a way that actually grow staff relationships."
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Your culture is trending towards healthy. A key measure of people who disagree well is like a sporting event. On the field or court, the play and movements are intense. But once the buzzer sounds and time runs out, everyone is hugging and high fiving. Your culture is healthy and growing.
Don’t have a weekly staff meeting? Your culture will probably suck soon, if not already. Your team needs a vehicle to come to the table and discuss the issues of the day.
2. Listen to what your office sounds like most of the time.
"Our office is very quiet".
Your culture may not suck, if you and your team are tenured accountants, massage therapists, librarians or something like that. For everyone else, your culture probably sucks. When happy and connected humans get together in one place, they chit chat and laugh. Whether or not they are in an office or at a cocktail party, it always sounds like a cocktail party. What about professional environments? Still usually cocktail parties.